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August 12, 2007
day 43
I know I said I was going to, sleep in, run when and where I wanted too. But that was yesterday. A girl has the right to change her mind. Especially when the change involves cowboys.
Around 8pm last night the realization hit me. If I put off running on Sunday to where and when I felt like it. I might not ever have felt like it. Since most of the people who I could call on to run with me were doing the trail race, it meant run 43 would be all me. Potential diaster in other words. The end of Augustathon as we know it. So to avoid imminent danger of our little streak, I called D.
"I'm going to do the trail race."
I met the group at Tim Hortons and we car pooled to the race in Exeter. We did a short warmup. The weather appeared to be cool and cloudy .... but was actuallly warm and humid. We were covered in sweat from a very slow 2k warm up. The cowboys sauntering freely about disattracted me from my pain and suffering.
The race started, 225 runners headed off from the rodeo, down the road and onto the trail. P and I passed the 1k around 6.20. Not particularly fast, and not that comfortable either. Considering the entire first km wasn't on the trail and was downhill, you would think it would have been better than that.
The second km wasn't much faster, about 6.14. When I saw the time, my first thought was I am going to be walking my 5k. Then I thought about all those runs I've done. The ones I didn't want to do. The ones that hurt. The ones I didn't think I could do. I did them. If I could do them. I could do this.
By 3k I had settled into a comfortable pace. Around 4k, we hit the first waterstop. I grabbed a drink and poured a cup of water down my back. Which I think turned to steam a few minutes later. I found a guy from our running group and started running with him. He had a slightly faster pace than I was running. I decided to keep up with him as long as I could. We seemed to be pushing each other. I noticed he was breathing hard. Then I realized I wasn't. Not at all. My legs were working hard on the up and down hills. I was sweating like I was in a sauna. But I wasn't pushing myself.
We passed by the 5k mark in 31.57. I was feeling really good. My pace guy had dropped behind me. I walked through the next waterstop, pouring water all over me. I started to pick it up a bit. Over the next 2k, I started to pass runners.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Look at me go. I tried not to count them out loud as I passed, cause that's just rude. When I saw 7k, I decided to push it and run the last km as a race. I passed a couple more runners. WOOO HOOO
Then came the turn off the trail and back to the rodeo. That last 500m was the hardest of the whole run. Then I hear a guy shout, "the streak continues" which totally made me laugh.
I crossed the line in 48.10.
Run 43 ... check
Posted by Ali at August 12, 2007 5:25 PM
Comments
Exeter?? Do you live in New Hampshire?
Just asking because we used to live there and are dying to move back.
Posted by: jkrunning at August 12, 2007 7:04 PM
Great stuff - congrats!
I've never done a trail run, but it sounds like a great time.
Posted by: Dave at August 12, 2007 11:13 PM
looks like all your training is really paying off - well done on a great run.
Posted by: londonjogger at August 13, 2007 4:26 AM
Congrats! Nothing better than a race to make you remember all those miles.. and what a streak!
Posted by: Amanda at August 13, 2007 10:27 AM
Cool!
Posted by: deene at August 13, 2007 12:21 PM
Looks like all those days of running are paying off!
Posted by: Kevin at August 13, 2007 3:26 PM